May 18

2024 Calendar

May 18 is the 138th day of the year (139th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 227 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

526 - Pope John I
1401 – Wladyslaw Opolczyk, Central European politician (b. 1332)
1550 - Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine, French cardinal (b. 1498)
1551 - Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1486)
1584 – Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559)
1675 - Jacques Marinette, French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
1675 - Stanislaw Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, theologian and historian (b. 1623)
1721 – Dawit III of Ethiopia (b. 1695)
1781 – Tupac Amaru II, Peruvian Indian revolutionary (b. 1742)
1799 – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (b. 1732)
1800 - Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
1807 – John Douglas, Anglican bishop (b. 1721)
1808 – Elijah Craig, important to the invention of bourbon (b. 1738?)
1812 – John Bellingham, assassin of Spencer Perceval
1829 – Maria Josepha of Saxony, Queen Consort of Spain (b. 1803)
1844 - Richard McCarty, American politician (b. 1780)
1853 - Lionel Kieseritzky, Baltic-German/French chess player (b. 1806)
1896 - Daniel Pollen, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1813)
1900 – Jean Gaspard Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)

1901 – 2000

1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
1909 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
1910 – Pauline Garcia-Viardot, singer, composer (b. 1821)
1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French doctor, won the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
1927 – Andrew Kehoe, perpetrator of Bath School disaster
1943 - Onishiki Daigoro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1883)
1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
1969 - Prentice Cooper, American politician, 43rd Governor of Tennessee (b. 1895)
1971 - Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
1973 – Jeannette Rankin, first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives (b. 1880)
1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)
1978 - Selwyn Lloyd, British politician (b. 1904)
1980 - Deaths in the Mt. St. Helens eruption:
- Harry Randall Truman, Guardian of Mt. St. Helens (b. 1896)
- David A. Johnston, American volcanologist (b. 1949)
- Reid Blackburn, American photojournalist (b. 1952)
1980 – Ian Curtis, British musician, singer/lyricist with Joy Division (b. July 15, 1956)
1981 – William Saroyan, American writer (b. 1908)
1988 – Daws Butler, voice actor (b. 1916)
1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
1995 – Alexander Godunov, ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
1995 – Elisha Cook Jr., actor (b. 1903)
1995 – Shawn Nelson, US Army veteran (b. 1959)
1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)
1999 – Betty Robinson, Olympic runner (b. 1911)
2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946)

From 2001

2001 - Irene Hunt, American children's writer (b. 1907)
2003 – Anna Santisteban, organizer of the Miss Universe contest (b. 1914)
2003 – Barb Tarbox, anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961)
2004 – Elvin Jones, jazz drummer (b. 1927)
2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist (b. 1932)
2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
2009 – Wayne Allwine, American actor (b. 1947)
2009 – Dolla, American rapper (b. 1987)
2010 – Edoardo Sanguineti, Italian writer (b. 1930)
2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone and conductor (b. 1925)
2013 - Jo Benkow, Norwegian politician (b. 1924)
2013 - Nam Duck-woo, 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (b. 1924)
2013 - Steve Forrest, American actor (b. 1925)
2014 - Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946)
2014 - Dobrica Cosic, Serbian writer and politician, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921)
2014 - Jerry Vale, American singer and actor (b. 1930)
2014 - Gordon Willis, American cinematographer (b. 1931)
2014 - Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist (b. 1929)
2014 - Per Almar Aas, Norwegian politician (b. 1929)
2014 - Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1946)
2014 - Morris Weiss, American cartoonist (b. 1915)
2015 - Halldor Asgrimsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
2015 - Raymond Gosling, British scientist (b. 1926)
2015 - Aruna Shanbaug, Indian nurse (b. 1948)
2016 - Fritz Stern, German-American historian (b. 1926)
2016 - Boris Schnaiderman, Ukrainian-born Brazilian translator, writer and essayist (b. 1917)
2017 - Reema Lagoo, Indian actress (b. 1958)
2017 - Anil Madhav Dave, Indian politician (b. 1956)
2017 - Roger Ailes, American television executive (Fox News) (b. 1940)
2017 - Jacque Fresco, American futurist (b. 1916)
2017 - Daniele Piombi, Italian television and radio presenter (b. 1934)
2018 - Stephanie Adams, American model and author (b. 1947)
2018 - Billy Cannon, American football player (b. 1937)
2018 - John Carrick, Australian politician (b. 1918)
2018 - Ayad Futayyih Al-Rawi, Iraqi military officer (b. 1942)
2018 - Sir Des Champs, Irish racehorse (b. 2006)
2018 - Darío Castrillón Hoyos, Colombian cardinal (b. 1929)
2018 - Eric McLuhan, Canadian communications theorist and media ecologist (b. 1942)
2018 - Yrsa Stenius, Finnish-Swedish journalist (b. 1945)
2019 - Analia Gade, Argentine actress (b. 1931)
2019 - Jürgen Kissner, German cyclist (b. 1942)
2019 - Quentin Pongia, New Zealand rugby league player (b. 1970)

Births

1901 – 1950

1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist (d. 1978)
1902 - Meredith Wilson, American composer (d. 1984)
1904 - Jacob K. Javits, American politician (d. 1986)
1907 - Irene Hunt, American children's writer (d. 2001)
1909 – Fred Perry, British tennis player (d. 1995)
1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues musician (d. 1985)
1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African activist (d. 2003)
1912 – Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)
1912 – Richard Brooks, American director (d. 1992)
1913 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, President of India (d. 1996)
1913 – Charles Trenet, French singer and songwriter (d. 2001)
1914 - Georg von Tiesenhausen, German-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
1914 - Robert J. Wilke, American actor (d. 1989)
1914 - Boris Christoff, Bulgarian opera singer (d. 1993)
1917 - Bill Everett, American comic book writer and artist (d. 1973)
1919 – Margot Fonteyn, British dancer (d. 1991)
1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
1920 - Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer and actress (d. 2012)
1922 - Mario Casalinuovo, Italian politician (d. 2018)
1922 - Bill Macy, American actor
1922 - Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
1923 – Hugh Shearer, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
1924 - Priscilla Pointer, American actress
1926 - Martin Bregman, American film producer (d. 2018)
1928 - Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
1931 - Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (d. 1995)
1933 - H. D. Deve Gowda, former Prime Minister of India
1933 – Bernadette Chirac, former First Lady of France
1934 - Dwayne Hickman, American actor and television presenter (d. 2022)
1936 - Rita Cadillac, French dancer, singer and actress (d. 1995)
1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourg statesman
1938 - Joan Blackman, American actress
1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate and anti-Mafia judge (d. 1992)
1939 - Peter Grünberg, German physicist (d. 2018)
1941 – Miriam Margolyes, British actress
1942 – Albert Hammond, British musician
1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer
1946 – Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese Premier
1946 - Bruce Gilbert, English guitarist
1946 - Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (d. 2013)
1946 - Ameril Umbra Kato, Filipino warlord (d. 2015)
1947 – John Bruton, Irish Taoiseach
1948 - Tom Udall, American politician
1949 - Bill Wallace, Canadian bassist
1949 – Rick Wakeman, British musician
1950 – Thomas Gottschalk, German entertainer
1950 - Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer, musician and composer

1951 – 1975

1951 - Angela Voigt, German long jumper (d. 2013)
1951 - Ben Feringa, Dutch chemist, Nobel laureate
1952 - Jeana Yeager, American pilot
1953 - Alan Kupperberg, American comic book artist (d. 2015)
1955 – Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
1956 - Catherine Corsini, French movie director and screenwriter
1957 - Michael Cretu, German-Romanian musician
1958 – Toyah Willcox, British actress and singer
1958 - Ruben Omar Romano, Argentine football manager
1959 - Ranga Yogeshwar, Luxembourgish science journalist, physicist and presenter
1960 - Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 - Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach and manager
1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player and singer
1962 – Nanne Grönvall, Swedish singer
1962 - Sandra, German singer
1963 - Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and actor
1964 - Ignasi Guardans, Catalan politician
1966 - Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer
1967 - Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German racing driver
1968 - Sergey Martynov, Belarusian target shooter
1969 - Martika, Cuban-American singer-songwriter, producer and actress
1970 – Tina Fey, American actress and comedienne
1971 – Brad Friedel, American soccer player
1971 - Mark Menzies, Scottish politician
1974 - Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player
1975 – Flozell Adams, American football player
1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
1975 – Jem, Welsh singer
1975 – Jack Johnson, American singer, songwriter and surfer
1975 - Just Jack, English singer
1975 - Princessa, Spanish singer and songwriter

From 1976

1976 - Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
1976 - Ron Mercer, American basketball player
1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer
1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
1978 - Charles Kamathi, Kenyan long-distance runner
1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
1979 – Milivoje Novakovic, Slovenian footballer
1980 – Michael Llodra, French tennis player
1980 – Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer
1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer
1984 - Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
1985 - Joseph Roisman, American former navy sailor
1985 - Francesca Battistelli, American singer-songwriter
1986 - Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player
1987 – Luisana Lopilato, Argentine actress, singer and model
1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer
1989 - Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri, Iranian footballer
1990 - Gayoon, South Korean singer and dancer
1990 - Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
1992 – Spencer Breslin, American actor
1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
1998 - Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer

Deaths

Observances

International Museum Day
World AIDS vaccine Day
Independence Day (Somaliland)
Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)